The rise of huge quasi-banks that are too big to fail caused the financial crisis, according to Ravi Jagannathan and John Boyd, and they propose a cure.

Although substantial current account deficits can be sustained indefinitely, large deficits in goods and services trade cannot be. Even to stabilise the current account deficit, the United States must restore balance in goods and services trade within a decade or so. If this adjustment is to be...

Is the U.S. vulnerable to a full-blown dollar crisis? Why are international finance economists scared and jittery, but domestically-oriented macroeconomists much less concerned?

Luigi Zingales points out that an important policy in resolving the crisis of the 1930s was the cancellation of gold clauses in industrial bond contracts. Congressional Republicans, however, strongly opposed this policy, and interestingly, today Republicans are again the core opposition to...

Economists and politicians have eagerly proposed policies aimed at stopping the decline in housing prices. The government can't and shouldn't be trying to stop price declines, according to Edward Glaeser of Harvard and Joseph Gyourko of Wharton.

Is the U.S. vulnerable to a full-blown dollar crisis? Why are international finance economists scared and jittery, but domestically-oriented macroeconomists much less concerned?

Jonathan Carmel explains that the auctions on which the Paulson plan relies are no magic bullet, and the problems of adverse selection that are causing the banks trouble could continue after $700 billion is spent.

We cannot afford to continue on the current path and let banks do as they please regardless of the risks for taxpayers and the economy, according to Joseph Stiglitz.

Battered housing prices are central to today's financial crisis, and Robert Lerman proposes a remedy that does not involve throwing money at Wall Street.

Robert Barro, Paul W. Warburg Professor of Economics at Harvard, questions the plausibility of large fiscal stimulus estimates.